Bare Bones

Download the podcast.
Download the dots to the tune.
Hello!
It's been far too long since I last made a podcast and I was so inspired after meeting lots of Belgian pipers this week that read my blog, that I decided to record a new podcast. My pipes really didn't like the snow and cold this week, so when we got home from the Netherlands and Belgium they were wrapped up in a duvet and cuddled and given lots of tender loving care. I finally got them in tune enough to record the podcast. This tune is called Bare Bones and it's from our album Gleowien (track 10 Vintage Puget, middle tune). I plan on doing more regular podcasts from now, so watch out for the next tune!
Thanks for listening!
:))
Vicki

Röros Polska - video

Hello!
It really is about time I started to blog again, so here is a movie I've made of a Swedish tune on the Scottish Smallpipes. It's a duet and you can find the dots on our website.



Just some fun really, but a really great Swedish tune.
:)
Vicki

Anna's March - brand new podcast

Anna's March
Dots!
Hello!
After what seems like ages I have finally recorded another podcast for all you pipers out there. It's a little 2/4 march. The accompaniment is the usual pipe duet, but with the nyckelharpa and cittra too. I'll get better at playing them I promise! good luck and thanks for listening! I'd love to hear anyone elses version of this tune!
:)
Vx

The Damson Tree

The Damson Tree - A
Dots in A

Hello!
Here is another pipe tune for you. I'm sorry it's been a few weeks! This has been for a couple of reasons. Part of it was trying to think about doing a tune with extra notes in it, I wanted to do a tune from our repertoire, but they all have high Bs in them. If you'd like to see some of our tunes, the dots for all of them are on our website. I've included one track on this podcast for you from Scatter Pipes to listen to.

Finally I hope I haven't compressed this podcast too much. I suspect I was a little heavy handed on the compression, sorry about that! I hope it's ok and please, all feedback is gratefully received!
:-)
Vicki

Pushbike - part 1

Pushbike in A
Dots in A

Hello!
The next tune is here! This is a jig written by Jonny with some accompaniment by him. (I still added bass and flute though.) I played it quite slowly, I hope it's not too slow! This is the shortest podcast I've done so far, only weighing in at a little over 9Mb. Not sure what happened there! I hope that it's ok. This is actually a two part tune, a jig and then a reel. I only did the jig this week, but if you like I'll complete the tune with the reel next time. Just let me know!

Feedback as always is gratefully received! As I have mentioned before (but not recently) this is part of my masters research and I'm going to start writing it up very soon. So if you have any comments or observations about podcasting as a tune teaching tool, please let me know!

Thanks so very much for listening! Catch you laters!
:-)
Vicki

Lament for the Lone Piper

No. 6 The Lament for the Lone Piper in A
Dots in A

Hello!
Here is the next smallpiper podcast tune! I hope that it's ok! I was really chuffed with the reaction of the ensemble of the last tune so I thought I'd try it again. I wrote this tune a few years ago and wrote a part for string quartet. I thought it would be nice to record those parts, however, it might have seemed like a good idea at the time, it was really hard to do. I'm not really sure that I should put up this tune, but I did do it and I don't think I could face re-doing the parts again, so here it is anyway! Please be gentle with me! I think I need to dust of the bass a bit more and practise the parts a bit instead of just sightreading it straight away. Doh! I think I was too tired really and should have left it until after the weekend, but it's ok! I also wanted to try to record a tune that is from our new album (not released yet, but pretty close). It's hard to do some of our tunes because I have three extra notes to most pipes, so I have to avoid those tunes, which is most of them! I think though I'll arrange some so that they can be played and then cast them!

I mention in the podcast about the festival podcast that I'm going to make at the weekend. There's a link on the side of this podcast leading to it, it'll show up when I've posted the cast, hopefully early next week.

Thanks again for listening and reading all of this waffle!
laters
:)
Vicki

The Race to Home

No. 5 The Race for Home in A
Dots in A

Hello!
At last here is the next podcast. (I've been away on holiday, so sorry for the delay in getting this one out!) I improvised a flute part and bass part and it was getting late. Thanks for the heads up about the drum beat, not sure what came over me there! You're right, it didn't fit the melodic structure at all! Hey ho! So no loops at all this week, just me, me, me, me and me. (tee hee). I hope it's ok!
I look forward to hearing from you!
:)
Vicki

Lullaby for the Sleepy

No.3 - Lullaby for the Sleepy in A
The dots in A!
Hi!

This is the third Smallpiper Folk Podcast. Thank you so much for all the wonderful feedback that I've had so far! It's been great! I've not used the repeat the two bar thing this time, so I hope it's still ok! As in the last tune I used GarageBand to create a veeeeeery simple backing, the chords don't really fit, but it makes it slightly more interesting to listen to. I've recorded it as a duet, and the dots have got both parts, but I've split them into apart and not directly on top of each other. I hope this helps a bit. Again the cast weighs in at 16Mb, so not for dial up really.
I mention in the podcast that I've already taught tunes using a normal website, you can see this here. If you fancy giving me feedback here with a comparison of what you've found easier, then that'd be really great!

:)
Vix